Lamb's liver pate' is quick and easy to make. It is smooth and creamy with a wonderful taste and texture - this truly is the food of kings!

Ingredients

200g Streaky bacon

600g Lamb's liver

50g Butter

2 x Medium onions, chopped finely

1 Clove garlic, finely chopped

1 Tbs Tomato puree

60ml Brandy or Cognac

200ml Sour cream (optional)

Instructions

Cut the lambs liver into cubes, the streaky bacon into strips, and dice the onion and garlic.

Heat a pan over medium heat, add the butter and fry the bacon for 3 minutes until barely browned.

Add the onion and garlic and continue to fry gently for a further 3 minutes until the onion is tender.

Add the liver to the pan and fry this for 5 minutes until it is cooked through.

Pour in the brandy and the tomato puree and continue frying gently for a final 2 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Using your stick blender, puree the liver until absolutely smooth. At this stage you can add the sour cream if desired, but this entirely personal choice.

Transfer the pate to serving bowls, single portion or bulk and seal the top of the pate with melted butter.

The pate will last for up to 10 days in your refrigerator, or up to 3 months in your freezer wrapped airtight in cling wrap.

Crispy,golden French fried onions make a perfect accompaniment, garnish or snack. Lightly coated then fried to golden perfection, these will have people lining up for seconds. Sometimes called shoe-string onions, these crispy fried onion rings have become the thing of legends!!!

Ingredients

1 Large onion

Milk to cover

2 Cups all-purpose flour

Oil to deep-fry

Instructions

Top and tail the onion and remove the outer layer.

Place onion on its end and cut down through the onion to split the rings, then place it on its side and slice rings as thinly as you can.

Place the rings in a mixing bowl and pour in enough full cream milk to cover. Allow these to stand for 60 minutes.

After the soaking time, dredge the rings in the flour and fry them at 190c or 375f until they are crisp and golden.

Remove the onions from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain any excess oil on kitchen paper before serving.

Traditional French Tarragon Chicken. How to make the best tarragon chicken EVER!!!

Author: Whats4Chow

Recipe type: Chicken / Poultry

Cuisine: French

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 90 mins

Total time: 1 hour 35 mins

Serves: 4

Tarragon chicken is an absolute classic of French cuisine. Traditionally baked whole in a Dutch oven or casserole, this method results quicker and more even cooking, with flesh that is far more moist and has a better infusion of flavor.

Ingredients

1½ Tbs Fresh tarragon, finely chopped

1 Clove garlic, crushed

50g Butter, melted and portioned into 2 x 25g

1.6kg Chicken

150ml Chicken Stock

30ml Dry white wine

1 Tbs Cornflour dissolved in 3Tbs water

Small handful fresh tarragon leaves

150ml Cream

Instructions

Cut through the skin and flesh along the breast bone, then cut through the bone with your shears.

Open the chicken up, turn it over and dislocate the pelvic girdle with a firm downward thrust of your hand.

Cut off and discard the wing tips.place the bird skin side up in a roasting pan and brush it liberally with the melted butter.

Grill the chicken on the second highest rack in your oven for 10 minutes until lightly browned. To clarify the term grill, use the top element only on maximum temperature.

Once this step is complete, reset your oven to 200c or 400f.

Remove the bird from the oven. Combine the the half of the melted butter, the finely chopped fresh tarragon, the garlic, white wine and chicken stock. Spoon this over the chicken.

Cover the roasting pan with foil and bake the chicken at 200c or 400f for 80 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the chicken to a platter and keep it warm.

Strain the juices from the pan into a small saucepan. Add the cornflour slurry and the whole fresh tarragon leaves.

Heat the saucepan over medium high heat, bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

Remove this from the heat and stir in the cream.

Joint the chicken and transfer the pieces to serving platters. Ladle the cream sauce over the chicken and serve immediately with the accompaniments of your choice.

Deep-Fried Camembert / Brie. Deep-fried camembert or brie is absolutely amazing - soft and runny on the inside and crisp and crunchy on the outside. The trick to getting this right is in the coating - check out the video to find out more!

Ingredients

125g Camembert or Brie cheese

For the Coating

½ Cup finely crushed cornflakes mixed with ½ cup all purpose flour

½ Cup tapioca flour or cornflour

2 Eggs lightly beaten

For the Garnish

6 Preserved green figs & a little fig syrup

Cashew nuts

Instructions

Cut the cheese into 4 wedges.

Before you coat the cheese, sprinkle a layer of the cornflake crumb mix over a platter. This stops the coating on the cheese from sticking to the platter while the coating sets.

To coat the cheese, dip it in the egg wetting it all over.

Dredge it in the tapioca or corn flour.

Then dip it in the egg again making sure to wet all of the cornflour.

Then it's into the cornflake mixture making sure to get a good solid coating all over.

Then back into the egg making sure to wet all of the cornflake mixture.

And finally another good solid coating of the cornflake mixture.

This may seem like overkill, but the cheese melts very quickly and this good coating inhibits it leaking into the oil while frying.

Transfer the coated cheese to the platter and allow the coating to set for 20 minutes.

Fill a saucepan with oil to a depth of 50mm or 2 inches and heat this to 170c or 325f.

Deep fry the cheese for 3 minutes turning halfway through.

Remove the cheese from the oil and drain on kitchen paper.

Transfer the cheese wedges to platters. Serve with lightly crushed preserved figs, some of the fig syrup and salted cashew nuts.

This 2 Part demonstration will show you how to debone a whole chicen, make the stuffing, roll it and tie it, and finally roast it. Chicken Galantine or Ballotine is a classic recipe, and can be stuffed with anything, but I have included a stuffing / filling that is a sure winner.

Ingredients

1 x 1.6kg Chicken

250g Streaky Bacon

300g English spinach

70g Feta Cheese

Butter for brushing

Butchers Twine

Instructions

Part 1

Remove the wings at the elbow joint.

With the chicken breast side up, pull the neck skin back and slice either side of the wishbone. Reach into the incision and pull the wishbone free.

Roll the chicken onto its side and slice through the skin all the way down the spine.

Move the wing up and down, feeling for the articulation. place your knife here and slice through the joint. Repeat with the other wing.

Stand the chicken upright. Hold the carcass with one hand. With other hand grab the whole wing and pull this downward and away from the carcass until the oyster is exposed. Repeat this with other wing.

Swivel the chicken around the chicken around, hold the carcass firmly with one hand. Place the index finger and middle finger of the other hand on either side of the breast bone or sternum and pull both breasts downward. The fillets will be left behind on either side of the sternum. We will rescue those later.

Turn the chicken onto its breast. Using a pointed sharp knife, cut the oysters free.

Grab one leg, move it sideways and upward, then pull it straight downward, cracking the joint open. Slice through the joint. Repeat this with the other leg.

Grab the carcass firmly and pull this free from the chicken.

To rescue the fillets from the carcass, simply slide your thumbnail under the fillets on either side of the sternum. Put these aside.

To debone the leg, cut around the leg joint to loosen the flesh. Holding the joint with one hand, scrape the flesh down the bone with the edge of your blade until you reach the drumstick joint.

Cut around the joint to free the flesh, then scrape the flesh down the bone to the end of the drumstick.

Push the bone back into the skin. Using the back of your cleaver, break the bone at the end of the drumstick and pull the whole leg bone free. Repeat this with the other leg.

To remove the bone from the wings, cut around the joint, scrape the flesh from the bone all the way down, then pull the bone free. Repeat this with the other wing.

Open the chicken out flat. To level the meat out, fill the empty spots between the legs and breast with the fillets, then slice at an angle through either side of the breast and flap these forward.

Part 2

Cut the bacon across the grain into thin strips then roughly chop the spinach.

Heat your wok or pan over high heat and fry the bacon for 3 to 5 minutes until it takes on color and is nice and crispy.

Add the spinach and fry this until it is well wilted..... about 3 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and crumble the feta into the pan.

Allow this to cool for about 15 minutes.

To stuff the galantine, press some of the filling into each leg, then spread the remaining filling evenly across the chicken being careful not to get too close to the top and bottom.

Fold one half of the chicken over across the center line, then fold the other half over this.

Using butchers twine, tie the legs together. Using half hitch loops tie the rest of the chicken closed.

Roll the chicken over and loop the twine through the cross twines then tie it up at the beginning.

Place the chicken in roasting pan, brush it liberally with melted butter then roast in a preheated oven for 45 minutes plus 15 minutes extra for each pound or 450g of chicken.

Remove the galantine from the oven, allow it to rest for 5 minutes before carving and serving.

Vietnamese Escargot - Vietnamese Snails. The influence of the French occupation of Vietnam is evident in the Vietnamese cuisine. Despite this, the way in which the Vietnamese prepare snails / escargot is distinctly different from the French. This step-by-step demonstration will show show you exactly how to produce this spectacular dish.

Ingredients

24 Burgundy Snails

225g Extra lean pork, finely minced

3 Lemon grass stalks, outer leaves in strips, insides finely minced

4 Tbs Garlic chives, finely chopped

25g Ginger, finely chopped

1 Birds Eye chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

10ml Roasted sesame oil

Salt and pepper to season

Instructions

To start, you will need very lean, finely minced pork. Rinse the snails thoroughly, then chop them finely.

Mince the garlic chives, the ginger, the chilli, and the inner stalks of the lemon grass.

Take the outer leaves of the lemongrass and shred these lengthways.

In addition measure out sesame oil.

Place everything, except the shredded lemongrass, in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper, then mix until totally combined.

Working with one snail shell at a time, bend a piece of the shredded lemongrass double and press it into the shell as far as it will go. Using your fingers, press some of the filling into the shell until the shell is full. Repeat this until all of the shells have been filled.

Transfer the shells to your steamer, leaning them against one another to keep them as upright as possible.

Put the lid on the steamer and steam over rapidly boiling water for 10 minutes.

Remove the steamer from the heat, transfer the snails to platters and serve immediately with light soy sauce spiked with a little finely chopped chilli.

Duck A L'Orange is one of the best known and loved dishes of French classic cuisine. Infused with the flavor of citrus and lovingly roasted to perfection, Duck A L'Orange is truly memorable.

Ingredients

1.8kg Duck

4 Oranges

95g Light brown sugar

125ml Cider vinegar

80ml Grand Marnier

30g Butter

Instructions

Cut an orange in half and put it to one side.

Cut away any excess skin and fat from the neck and tail of the duck.

Cut through the skin along the breast bone, then using your shears cut through the breast bone. Open up the duck and press down on the pelvis firmly to flatten it.

Pat the duck dry, then rub the skin thoroughly with the orange halves.

Place the duck on a rack in a roasting pan and using a carving fork, prick skin all over to allow the fat to render out.

Roast the duck in a preheated oven at 150c or 300f and roast for 45 minutes.

While the duck roasts, heat a pan over medium low heat and melt the sugar, tipping the pan or stirring the sugar to ensure even browning.

Pour in the vinegar, standing back from the pan, as it will spatter. The sudden temperature change will make the melted sugar turn to toffee.... this is normal.

Keep stirring, bring the solution to a boil, and boil for 3 to 4 minutes. By this stage the toffee will have mostly dissolved, then add the orange juice and grand marnier.

Bring this back to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

After the initial 45 minutes of roasting, remove the duck from the oven and drain any fat from the pan. Raise the temperature of the oven to 180c or 350f, spoon some of the orange sauce over the duck and return it to the oven for a further 45 minutes.

Remove the duck from the oven every 10 minutes and spoon a bit more of the sauce over the bird.

After 45 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and transfer the duck to a platter and cover it with foil.

Skim any excess fat from the pan then strain the juices through a sieve back into the frying pan, and add the orange zest and butter. Reheat this over medium heat until it just comes to a boil.

Cut the duck in half up the spine, transfer the halves to platters and spoon the orange sauce over the duck before serving.

How to Bake Traditional Madeleines. Original French Madeleines recipe - quick and easy.

Author: Whats4Chow

Recipe type: Baking / Biscuits / Cookies

Cuisine: French

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 12 mins

Total time: 17 mins

Crisp on the outside, soft and spongy on the inside - infused with the aroma and flavor of citrus, Madeleines are absolutely delicious. This Madeleines recipe is the real thing - it is also quick and easy to do.

Ingredients

3 Eggs

100g Caster sugar

150g Cake flour

100g Butter, melted

Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange

Instructions

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until thick and pale, and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted.

Fold in the flour until combined.

Fold in the lemon and orange zest.

Fold in the butter.

Spoon into the Madeleine molds leaving a little space for rising.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200c / 400f for 12 minutes until lightly golden.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.